bookbashuk Chapter 4526 The Darkest Night (54)
Chapter 4526 The Darkest Night (54)
Chapter 4526 The Darkest Night (Fifty-Four)
"Hello, this is U.S. Federal Shield, I'm Amanda Waller. I have something I'd like to ask you. Mr. Todd, is this a convenient time for you?"
"Go ahead," the voice on the other end of the phone said somewhat indistinctly, "I'm waiting for the subway, and the signal isn't very good here. The good news is that the on-time rate is only 16%, so I probably have time."
Amanda knew Jason Todd was in England and wouldn't be back anytime soon. So she asked, "What do you know about the second floor of Gotham University's library?"
"Not more than you, and I've never been up there. It's not a good place. Why are you asking?"
"There have been many murders recently, which may be related to the occult. I need to go up there to find information. Do you have any way to get me up there?"
"Find the president of Gotham University and ask him to appoint you as a librarian. Remember, it must be the president, and you need a formal, paper-based offer letter; an email won't do."
"A librarian?" Shivana looked Amanda up and down. "So you've finally given up on your hopeless superhuman management organization and are planning to find yourself a stable job?"
Amanda rolled her eyes and said, "Who said I was going to give up? It's precisely because I need to investigate the case that I have to..."
“Oh, I see. Brainiac, help me with an application for employment.”
Now it was Amanda's turn to be surprised. She said, "Aren't you going to ask me..."
"Fun fact: I'm a wizard too. I'm the headmaster of Gotham Magic Academy. You think I don't know those recent cases are related to magic?"
"Then why don't you investigate it yourself?"
How do you know I didn't check?
"What were the findings of the investigation?"
"The investigation concludes that this matter cannot be investigated by a mage." Sivana tapped the table, his expression turning serious. He said, "Magical talent is a gift, but it's also a curse. Mages can usually sense things that ordinary people cannot. But if those things are inherently harmful, then mages will die much faster than ordinary people."
"So you were scared."
“I don’t deny that,” Sivana said, “but even if I didn’t value my life, Brainiac wouldn’t agree to let me go. Because if I became that kind of madman, I don’t know how many lives would be needed to stop me.”
Magical light shimmered in his palm. The power of Pride, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, turned one of his eyes a gleaming blue. This wasn't Amanda's first time encountering magic up close, but the immense power emanating from Sivana felt almost tangible, creating an overwhelming sense of oppression.
“You don’t need to scare me,” Amanda said, regaining her composure. “If you’re going to rely on an ordinary person like me, you should give me more information. If you let me wander around like a headless fly, we’ll all die in the end.”
“Knowledge is powerful,” Sivana said. “If I tell you too much, you might also be corrupted. There’s a lot to be done in keeping your naivety—or rather, your foolishness.”
Amanda was annoyed. These people were all speaking in riddles, and in a sarcastic tone. She was very unhappy. But the case still needed to be investigated. She took her onboarding report and went to the Gotham University library.
Then they discovered that, just as Constantine had said, the second floor was protected by some mysterious force. The stairs initially seemed to lead upwards, but as you walked, you found yourself descending, eventually ending up back on the first floor. Even having the employment report didn't help.
Just when Amanda thought she had been tricked, Brainiac reminded her, "Perhaps we'll have to wait until tonight."
"At night? What's so special about nighttime?"
Amanda soon realized what was special about the night. As night fell, everyone left. The entire library seemed to have stepped back into the early 17th century, the atmosphere completely transformed.
The atmosphere was so quiet that Amanda could hear her own heartbeat. She mustered her courage and headed for the stairs.
Jason hung up Amanda's call and put his phone in his pocket. He stood at the entrance of the All Souls College office at Oxford University and handed over his business card: "Hello, I'm looking for Neog Sohip."
The receptionist accepted the business card, glanced at it, and said, "Excuse me, but may I ask what brings you to see Dr. Soship?"
He's not here, is he?
The female teacher nodded and said, "The doctor has been invited to Buckingham Palace to help the Queen resolve her problems."
When will he be back?
"Perhaps it will happen soon. He..."
Before he could finish speaking, the door behind him suddenly opened. Neog Sohip, wearing a long black trench coat, took off his hat and looked up at Jason: "Come on in."
Jason followed her into the drawing room. Dr. Sohip sat down and said, "The Queen is in some trouble."
"What trouble?"
“I should keep this a secret. But you’re not British, so it’s no big deal to tell you. A servant in Windsor Castle committed suicide. It was initially thought to be just a bullying incident, but some people pointed out that it might be related to a cult. The royal family didn’t want this to become public, so they brought in experts to handle it privately.”
"So, is it resolved?"
"Far from it. In fact, it's more troublesome because it might not be a cult, but an evil god."
Jason frowned and said, "Amanda Waller called me; he wants to get into the second floor of the Gotham University library."
"Is this what you came for?"
“No. Look at this.” Jason handed over the newspaper he was holding, and the headline on the front page was: “Shocking! Could the mass hysteria incident in Broodhaven be related to drinking water poisoning?”
“It could not possibly be drinking water poisoning,” Dr. Sohip said. “A similar case happened in Austria. So many occult events happening at the same time is not a good sign.”
“That’s why I came to you,” Jason said. “Is there going to be some strange activity in the wizarding world again?”
"This isn't something those mages could pull off. Their magical illusions and tricks couldn't possibly push someone to this point. It must be some mysterious entity."
"Who will it be?"
Dr. Sohip shook his head and said, "It's not clear yet. We need to go to the Forgotten Bar."
The lights in the Forgotten Bar were still dim. Master of the Night, Jim, sat there polishing his weapons, Black Orchid was drinking, and Detective Gorilla was reading.
After listening to Dr. Soship's account, Jim frowned and said, "I can't think of any mysterious entity that could have such an ability. You know, Earth isn't something you can just come and go as you please."
Jason continued, "If it's an unknown, mysterious entity, what's its purpose in doing this?"
After thinking for a moment, Jim said, "Actually, it's strange. Driving someone insane isn't a good option. A corrupted soul is almost unusable; no mystical being would accept it."
"Then he himself..."
"That's the problem. He didn't take it himself. There are many examples in the past of the devil driving believers insane and to their deaths before taking their souls. But this kind of madness seems to be just madness; he didn't intend to drive people to their deaths. How many deaths have there been so far?"
We only know of two cases.
"How did you die?"
"One had its chest cavity cut open, and the other had its eyeballs gouged out."
“This doesn’t seem like something the devil would do,” the gorilla detective said. “The devils are cunning. They would disguise the suicide of a misled believer so perfectly that people would think he was just drunk or accidentally fell into a well, rather than using such an obvious scenario of ‘being tempted to commit suicide by an evil god’ to introduce himself.”
"Perhaps he didn't intend to cover it up."
"Then how can he fool the next person?"
Jason was speechless. He had just learned that all the servants at Windsor Castle had been quarantined. Under these circumstances, it was difficult for the situation to spread, and it was indeed not a good option.
“I believe the contamination did occur,” the gorilla detective continued, “but it wasn’t an evil god who actively lured us in; rather, someone was courting disaster.”
"How to say?"
“This kind of thing isn’t uncommon,” Jim added. “Some mysterious beings don’t care about Earth, but humans are attracted by their power and insist on borrowing it from them. Once they’re angered, they’ll give their followers powers with extremely strong side effects, causing them to seek their own demise.”
"But we can't afford to anger so many people, can we?"
"That's the strange thing. Didn't you find anything special?"
“The investigation is still ongoing,” Dr. Sohip said, “but they should be quick, given that it concerns the Queen’s safety…”
Dr. Sohip picked up his phone, checked his email, and said, "Oh, there it is. They found a letter among her belongings."
"A letter? What kind of letter is it?"
“I don’t know, no one dares to open it,” Dr. Soship said, standing up. “I have to go back. Perhaps we’ll have news soon.”
“What’s this?” Barry looked at the envelope on the table. Another agent said, “It was found in the victim’s house.”
“This isn’t like her at all,” Barry said. “She wouldn’t use this quality stationery. The wax seal is way too high quality. And who writes letters by hand these days?”
“The problem is that this letter is not from this era,” the agent said. “After examination, it was determined to be a letter written in 1873.”
What's written inside?
“We wanted to see it, but Brainiac stopped us. He believes the letter might be the source of the contamination. We are looking for a safe way to read it.”
Barry shook his head and said, "There's no safe way. Let's try a different approach."
"what?"
"Find a safe way to read corpses."
The morgue door opened, and Schiller walked in. His breath turned into a white mist. Barry stepped forward and lifted the white sheet covering the corpse's head. Seeing the strange manner of death, Schiller raised an eyebrow.
“It’s rare for the brain to become like this,” Schiller said. “Have we ruled out the possibility of chemical intervention?”
“Completely ruled out,” Brainiac said. “I sent some liquid to Jonathan Klein for testing. It was a solution of multiple mixed heavy metals that shouldn’t be in the human body. And there’s no chemical way to turn a human brain like that.”
“She was terrified,” Schiller said, looking at the empty eye sockets. “She knew she shouldn’t have done it, but it was too late. She just wanted to do something to fix it, but gouging out her eyes wouldn’t do any good. The stuff had gotten into her brain and melted it, and that’s how it ended up.”
“What does ‘Don’t look out the window’ mean?” Barry asked.
“Literally,” Schiller said, “looking out the window at the right time and in the right place can reveal things you shouldn’t be seeing.”
"So...when?"
"You're really planning to go see it?"
“Uh, no,” Barry said. “I’m just curious.”
“Curiosity is the beginning of disaster,” Schiller said, looking at the corpse’s face. “But I’m curious too. Let me see that letter.”
"you sure?"
Schiller nodded. Barry took the letter, and Brainiac spoke first: "Are you sure you won't go crazy? If you do, no one can stop you."
“That makes sense,” Schiller paused, then said, “If my own madness cannot overcome the madness it brings, then there might indeed be problems. But I know a way to win.”
"what?"
"Hello? Jack? I have a letter for you here. Would you like to come and take a look?"